


Strawhat Potpourri

by printfogey



Category: One Piece
Genre: Enies Lobby, Ficlet Collection, Gen, Post-Time Skip, Pre-Time Skip, Time Skips
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-12-27
Updated: 2014-04-11
Packaged: 2018-01-06 09:51:41
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 14
Words: 5,913
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1105394
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/printfogey/pseuds/printfogey
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>My fourth umbrella collection of Strawhats-themed gen ficlets and shortfics. Like "Strawhat Herbarium", this one's not as symmetrical as the "Strawhat Bouquet"s, in that it will likely feature some characters more than others and some maybe not at all (due to lack of ideas, not lack of affection!). At the top of Chapter 1 there's a list where you can see what character/which characters each ficlet is focused on.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Red, White

**Author's Note:**

> Author's Notes for the whole collection: Nitpicks and other constructive criticism are very welcome, as is feedback in general. Each chapter will feature a brief summary.
> 
> Disclaimer: The characters and situations of One Piece were created and are owned by Eiichiro Oda. They are used here without permission for entertainment purposes only. This fic may not be used for profit in any way, and should not be reposted elsewhere without the writer's approval.
> 
> List of ficlets and characters (no pairings in this collection):  
> Chapter 1, "Red, White": Chopper  
> Chapter 2, "Fires": Robin  
> Chapter 3, "Regarding First Impressions, or, the Usefulness of Masks": Usopp and Franky  
> Chapter 4, "Indebted": Usopp and Zoro  
> Chapter 5, "The Trouble With Musicians": Brook, Nami, and Robin  
> Chapter 6, "Old Shadows": Robin and Franky  
> Chapter 7, "True Direction": Zoro  
> Chapter 8, "And the Walls Come Tumbling Down": Robin, and in a way Luffy  
> Chapter 9, "Loophole": Usopp and Sogeking  
> Chapter 10, "Even So": Usopp  
> Chapter 11, "The Story Is The Story": Chopper  
> Chapter 12, "Santa Nami": Nami and Usopp  
> Chapter 13, "Won't Stop": Chopper and Zoro  
> Chapter 14, "Definitions": Makino and Luffy
> 
> \------------------------------------------------------
> 
> Author's Notes for "Red, White": A Chopper-centric fill from a chaos thread for the prompt "Crimson". Spoilers up through the Fishman Island arc.

Blood spilled on snow didn't turn the soothing, healing colour of pink, even though it was red and white together. Chopper knew that perfectly well. There had been times when all he could see were crimson patches in the snow, stark and lost and awful, smelling of grief, failure and bleak guilt.

That image came back whenever he had to work hard to save a patient who was bleeding too much and too deeply. It stood for what he most strived against, most wished to defeat. After joining the Strawhats, he saw it even more often, his crewmates so often insisting on fighting hard in the midst of battle while the colour of blood bloomed and spread on their bodies. Only Chopper could stave that.

He believed in the miracle of blooming cherry trees, in finding new cures that could heal every sickness. He knew that to get there, to keep saving his crewmates, he had to fight alongside them. He had to spill blood, too. It couldn't be helped. But at the back of his head the image still lingered.

And then there were the times when his mind was overturned, he lost his reason, lost control of his growing, monstrously strong body. Saw nothing but red, red, the pulse pumping through his head, knowing nothing but enemies and a primal fear and need to destroy.

 

*

Alone now, alone again. But not like before. He sat down in the laboratory the friendly islanders had let him set up on this distant island, next to their well-supplied library. He took out a Rumble Ball, cut it into half and put it under a microscope. There had to be ways it could be improved on. The sunlight streaked in through the window. Everything was quiet and calm.

Old memories in dark colours came back to him, splotchy and fearsome, with far too much blood. He closed his eyes, remembering them being vanished away one by one. The story in the newspaper. The older times when he'd nearly lost one of his friends, when it had been so close...

His hands stopped shaking. "This has to be done," he said out loud to himself, no-one else near to hear it. "I'm the only one who can." He'd conquer the rage that kept him cut off from reason in his strongest transformation: he'd shape himself into a monster that wouldn't see red.


	2. Fires

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Robin-centric ficlet also written for a chaos thread, this one for the prompt "Justice". Set during the Enies Lobby arc around chapter 429. G (or possible PG for violence). Could be seen as a companion piece to my earlier Robin ficlet "Funeral Pyre" (chronologically set later, though not by much).

During the battle she didn't have time or opportunity to look back: as soon as she was free of her seastone chains, she joined the fighting with the others. But in truth she was afraid to watch the devastation, fearful that old memories would come back to paralyse her again despite everything. Even if she fought off such a reaction quickly, that could still take more time than they could spare in these moments.

So it was only after their allies were reported as safe, after the last of the CP9 was defeated, after Going Merry miraculously, joyfully had turned up at the last second, and after Sanji's clever trick with the Gates of Justice had finally rendered the Buster Call's ships adrift, their guns unable to hit their targets - it was only after all of that, just when Nami skilfully found them the right stream to let them escape to safety, that Robin turned back and let herself bloom eyes across the distance to look at Enies Lobby one final time. To remember how mighty it had looked at her arrival: to see the devastation now, the fires that still raged. The craters and ruins and ashes.

Some of the destruction was wreaked by her captain and her crewmates and their allies. But most came from the Buster Call itself.

She only had the time to look at it very briefly, putting the image clear in her head; then she turned away, to attend to the flight at hand, and a spine that needed cracking.

But it did occur to her, when she had the time to think, that someone could put those images side by side, looking at Ohara then, at Enies Lobby now. And maybe they would say: this is justice. Or: it's a small piece of justice. Or: it is fair.

She couldn't see it that way. How could there be justice without truth? And the truth of Ohara, she was well aware, might have to wait a long time yet. (You couldn't say anything to those who refused to listen. And where was her proof?)

Not justice. Just a consequence: the fires then, the fires now. And this time the destruction turned on the perpetrator's own stronghold - maybe because that was bound to happen one day, with the World Government's all-too-easy drive towards extreme ruthlessness. Or maybe because that was just one of those things that happened when Monkey D. Luffy was around.

She close her eyes and breathed in the salt air, listened to the old, creaking, wonderful ship underneath her, hearing all of her crewmates and the others aboard. The smouldering Island of Justice lay far behind. Fires were dying down inside her: sea waves came rolling in instead.


	3. Regarding First Impressions, or, The Usefulness of Masks

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Usopp reflects on his first two meetings with Franky.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is one of my earliest fics in this canon. Set in Water 7 with spoilers up to and including chapter 360. Some unavoidable angst, though the tone is intended to be calm.

When Usopp had first met Franky, the latter had been wearing a mask.

That Franky, the huge unknown gangleader who’d refused to give back the money his goons had stolen, who’d punched him and tossed him off to get beaten to a pulp by same goons, who’d laughed with scorn and said ’I feel sorry for the Strawhat for letting such a weak person guard his money’ – that Franky had been covered completely by a big carnival costume in the Water 7 style. Usopp vaguely remembered a huge orange ruffle and a star-shaped head at the top with a stern face in orange, yellow, and white, inexpressive and towering and implacable.

Then they’d met again the next day when Franky had decided to capture him as bait and bring the Going Merry along to his private hideout, now that his house had been torn down by the others. That Franky, Franky the man – who cried easily and copiously with sympathy; whose every gesture was copied by the Square Sisters; who seemed genuinely if intermittently remorseful; who kept picking out little tunes on his guitar, argued with him about the state of the Going Merry and told him about the Klabautermann and of the value of ships that are truly loved by their crew; who changed from one mood to another with ridiculous speed and was loud and brash and annoying and not quite possible to hate – that Franky had not been wearing any mask. (Or much of anything, for that matter).

It was hard to say whether that made any difference.

When you thought about it, a crime boss and his thugs taking advantage of a weak link in order to rob the lawless of their presumably ill-begotten spoils seemed so obviously likely that it was almost more than a natural force than actual individuals. Something like that was just bound to happen one day. To be that weak link mattered a lot – a huge lot. But as for the ones who’d happened to do it and had set things into motion, they didn’t matter that much. They were just outsiders, after all. Besides, honestly, why bother?

And whatever cutting words such an outsider crime boss might throw around, those paled into insignificance when compared to what really mattered. Such as Luffy’s incomprehensible blitheness with regards to Going Merry’s condition, his sudden, uncharacteristic clinging to a captain’s authority while refusing to change his mind and also refusing to stop Usopp from leaving; and even more his own inexcusable weakness and carelessness and mistrust and overreaction and willingness to hurl at Luffy the very words he knew would hurt him the most – not to mention fight a serious duel as well – and maybe most of all his inability to stop himself before it was too late.

After all that, why bother with hating Franky? Especially since he’d just saved Merry (or at least tried to do so) from the threatening waves of the Aqua Laguna. So he’d meant it when he told Franky on that second meeting that he didn’t hate anybody. (Expect perhaps himself and he wasn’t really sure about that either. But he really couldn’t hate Luffy for more than those first few hours. It just hurt way too much.). There was simply no use in going on like that.

And besides, Franky had been wearing a mask.


	4. Indebted

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Usopp and an old debt of honour.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This ficlet comes from the prompt "Debt" on a chaos thread on the comm zosopp at Livejournal – which is a Zoro/Usopp pairing site, but this particular ficlet is all gen and doesn't even have any intentional subtext. 
> 
> Rated G. Set on Little Garden in vol 14 and 15.

Usopp knows, he really does know that crewmates are not supposed to go around feeling indebted to each other. That's not how it's supposed to work. Sure, he's grateful whenever someone saves him – and that does happen a lot, yes he's quite aware of that, thank you – but that doesn't mean there are tallies where people are keeping score. Not even Sanji and Zoro with their constant bickering seem to regard it that way, really. They're all crew, they all stand up for each other and that's it.

Even so, Usopp still feels ashamed when he thinks about that one time by Nami's island when he had jumped ship with Johnny, abandoning the wounded and tied-up Zoro to the Arlong Pirates. His conscience had caught up with him eventually on that day, but he never actually wound up doing anything to make up to it, the way things turned out. 

He suspects Zoro's long forgotten about it already, and it's not like Usopp spends a _lot_ of time thinking about the matter either, but every now and then that memory still stings him. It's different from all the other times when he was just too weak or too slow. A debt of honour. And Usopp has no idea how to go about even trying to repay that.

And so maybe, _maybe_ there's an extra smidgeon of satisfaction in that triumphal moment on Little Garden, as Mr 3:s diabolical wax trap goes up in flames. For a few seconds he feels like the score might be even, that maybe the debt is now paid. 

Then Miss Valentine and Mr 5 target him again and those three he just saved rescue him right back, Zoro looking cool as hell with three flaming swords. And so there goes the score, back to normal. Of course, if he hadn't done that Usopp might be dead now, so it would be pointless – not to mention ungrateful as hell – to feel sulky about it. 

_Maybe this is the price I have to pay for being so cowardly back then._ An unwelcome thought, that.

He pushes it aside as best he can and goes on to make jokes and eat crackers with the others, celebrating they're alive and not being sulky. The thought settles quietly within him, like a snake all coiled up, but that's just what dark thoughts do. One day it will be different, he tries telling himself. _I'll clear myself one day._ Perhaps he's right.


	5. The Trouble With Musicians

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> On the blessings and curses of soul-powered music. Nami, Robin, Brook et al.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A not-too-serious piece written for the 2012 holidays to a requester asking for Brook and the prompt "Impromptu concerts on the deck of the Thousand Sunny". Rated G. Set post-timeskip, talks about Brook's current abilities.

The weather had been moody and windy all day, but towards evening it cleared up, with a brisk, steady breeze in the sails. Brook climbed up to the helm, strummed his guitar and started up a song . It began low and slow but got up into a cheerful beat, almost wild; Franky by the helm nodded in beat to it, Luffy and Usopp abandoned their fishing and started to dance; Chopper paused in his reading, put the book aside and ran outside to join them. In the galley Sanji whistled along with the tune and peeled potatoes to the beat, and Zoro changed the pace of his weight-lifting to fit. 

Brook's new levels of soul power amplified the music beyond what the guitar should allow, reaching everywhere on the ship when he wished to. And sometimes, he could even make it sound like there were other sounds in the song beyond the guitar and his voice, as if it were a whole group rather than just one man playing. The full effect was irresistible.

From inside the library, Nami listened like everyone else did until the song was over. Then she shut the window with a deep sigh, crossed her arms and turned to Robin.

"You see what I mean, right?" she said. "I hate to say it, but Brook is just too good these days. Oh, it's all right when whatever you're doing fits in with the song - then you even work faster, yeah. But when your activity can't fit the beat of the song… the song will win, every time. I've noticed. It's the same with everybody."

"Ah. That does tend to happen, yes."

Nami nodded. "And so, chores don't get done, or get done a lot slower than usual. The ship is dirtier than it ought to be, we don't have as many clean clothes… hell, we're even slower at the stuff we _like_ to do! Our meals get delayed, the flowerbed and herbs and trees could be better kept, and I'm not even sure we all keep up our training enough." She threw up her hands in the air.

"You're not wrong," said Robin in a low tone, looking out at the ship. "But I also remember the other day, when I was plagued by a headache, he changed the rowdy rock song he'd started on to a classical serenade. And before I knew it, my headache had gone away entirely."

She continued, "There was also that time when Chopper felt bad about mixing up some medicine the wrong way. Brook played him a song to cheer him up that Chopper said didn't just make him feel better, but also smarter."

"True," said Nami reluctantly.

"And of course, there's yesterday..." Robin trailed off. Yesterday, there had been a huge mass of great black unnatural clouds mobbing the ship, refusing to budge even through Nami's weatherworking. They had swept the ship in a choking black mist that made everyone sick and queasy.

But then Brook had taken out his guitar and played one hell of an opening chord, before letting loose with the song _The Sun After The Storm_. And the clouds had parted around them, the sun and the blue sky coming back just like they did in the song's lyrics. Whatever malignant force lay behind the black cloud-mist had been forced to give way before Brook's soul music.

"A beautiful and terrifying gift," Robin said now, after a thoughtful pause. "Of course he needs to practice it, keeping it sharp. But... he should take care not to wear it out."

"Exactly, exactly!" Nami nodded forcefully. "So you agree we should ask him to tune it down?"

Robin sat down at the library couch. She smiled ruefully. "Yes... I agree that would be a good idea," she said, "if only we could go through with it. But you've already tried before, right?"

Nami slumped, knowing all too well what Robin referred to. Because each and every time Nami tried to rise the subject, Brook would start to play one of _Nami's_ favourite songs. And before she got to the point, well... there was no help for it, she had to stop talking and start singing and dancing; the music called out to her. The skeleton was playing dirty.

"Yes. Curse his dry toe bones," she muttered. Robin gave her a sympathetic arm squeeze; Nami sighed again.

And so the situation stayed as it were, with more music in the heart of the crew but often enough – depending on the day's repertoire – less chores being finished on the Sunny. After all, one couldn't reason with a musician.


	6. Old Shadows

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Robin, Franky and late night talk touching on the past. Set any time after Franky joins the crew.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> While inspired by the prompt "Nightmares" on onepiece-300, this one was always way beyond the comm's word limit and was first posted to my journal. I had first intended this as Franky/Robin, but it didn't turn out very shippy in the end, so now it seems more suitable for a gen collection. Rated G.

Franky sleeps soundly most of the time, especially these days, but tonight is one of those _other_ nights where that just won’t happen. Old memories and half-forgotten faces in his head keep stirring when they should just be quiet; and stupid nameless unsuper worries for the future also keep rearing their head. 

Finally he’s had enough and steps out, trudging over to the galley for coffee and cola. And Robin is there. 

"Hiya," he says and waves, not feeling up for posing right now. She hums in reply. 

Franky goes for the cola first, not filling himself up fully because then there’s probably no hope of sleep. There’s coffee left in the kettle. 

"I couldn’t sleep," she says, matter-of-factly, sitting quite straight. There’s an open book on the table, but she’s not reading it. 

"Yeah, same here." He sits down, leaning back in his chair, half-wondering if he should take out his guitar. 

"Nightmares," she goes on, in a lower voice. He shoots her a raised-eyebrow glance. Robin looks calm and collected, like always. But it's true that sometimes, very occasionally, Robin will say that kind of thing, exposing herself just a little bit, for just a moment. Almost as if she's daring herself to. 

"Well. That sucks." Franky starts drinking the coffee, swears because it’s too hot, then blows on the surface repeatedly before gulping down. "What kind?" he adds, because there’s something about Robin’s still, stiff figure and her serious face that makes him think she won’t mind being asked. 

Her eyes look distant now. "Oh, this and that..." She stops, looking hesitant, then goes on more slowly, "Mostly about a man I once killed to survive, long ago." Her voice is calm and clear, if not very loud. "There was a woman in black, and a young man. In the dream, I knew without telling they were the widow and son of that man, come for revenge. I was unable to move, and forced myself to wake up." She says the last part almost dismissively, almost embarrassed – but not quite. 

Franky stirs his coffee with a spoon slowly, first in one direction and then the other. "Yeah," he says quietly. "I’ve had dreams in that direction once or twice, maybe." He pauses, then admits, "Maybe more than that." 

Robin looks at him, eyes mild but steady. "I wasn't sure, but I thought perhaps you might have," she murmurs. Then she looks down at her cup of coffee, held with both hands. "I don't know why I dreamed of him particularly. There was nothing very remarkable about him, or the circumstances." 

Franky shrugs. "Coulda just been his turn to be remembered. In the old memory line, y’know?" He starts to fiddle with the tunings of his guitar. "Not even Adam’s wood is strong enough to keep bad dreams away... but things are better now, right?" 

Her smile is a little melancholy, but still seems sincere. "Right," she agrees. She finishes her coffee, then puts the cup down. "I was thinking, since I won’t fall asleep I might as well go up to the crow's nest and take over the rest of the watch from Nami." She tilts her head as she looks at him. "Care to join me?" 

He grins and tells her that's the most super thing he's heard this week, and they get up and leave the galley together. It's still really dark outside, but Robin moves easily without hesitation, and he knows she'll catch him if he stumbles.


	7. True Direction

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Brief Zoro-centric poem on the prompt "Lost". Rated G.

Maps are unsteady. Landmarks  
Treacherous, moving around  
As you turn your back on them. Then  
There's compasses, most useless things…  
Damn architects, always making  
Their houses and streets into mazes!...  
He shall not fall for such tricks.

No point in fretting, or turning  
Around, asking for help;  
The locals are always confused.  
His steps will take him to where  
He's meant to be, in the end.  
Things always fall into place.

Detours lead to meetings, and they  
Wind up changing his life. And also,  
He's known to be first to arrive.  
Trust the pattern. It will lead him right.


	8. And The Walls Come Tumbling Down

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Liberation paid forward: Nico Robin and Luffy's influence, shortly before the timeskip.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This was written as an attempt to write something non-angsty for the prompt "Broken" on the onepiece-300 challenge comm. It's based on the Robin parts of chapter 524 and the cover pages to chapter 544 and 545. At the time, this was all we knew of Robin's doings so this added a lot of speculation. Some of it has been Jossed, but mostly by the anime since the manga still hasn't said that much about this specific bit. Can be seen as a companion piece to the earlier ficlet "Building Blocks". Rated G.

She's watched and waited and kept her guard down until the right moment comes; then, she moves swiftly, taking down scores of guards before they can even sense what was happening. Soon, the uprising spreads all over the construction, helped by the diversionary raid the revolutionaries provide, as promised.

As soon as she has time, she blooms enough hands that their combined power break through the iron chain links around her real wrists. The chains fall, heavy and broken at her feet. 

She looks up to see the faces of her fellow prisoners, gaunt and grim, anxious and sad, wild with a desperate hope... Most of them are free already, by now, though a fair number had first used their very chains to fight with. 

She smiles towards them. _Don’t worry,_ she wants to say. _I know a man who can break through **anything**._ The walls of the greatest of strongholds, the most imposing fighters, the darkest of storm clouds, the most cunning plans… And who had kept ramming at the shields around her heart until even those formidable structures lay in pieces. She’s seen him reach out and break through pride and fear and even ambition without even knowing he did so, just being who he was. 

Compared to those things, what’s a few hundred armed guards, an assortment of cannons, and a few thousand chains? Nothing. Oh, she’s nowhere near as good at this stuff as her captain is, but he’s taught her the importance of daring to break what should be broken, to let the light and the wind of freedom in. She only has to follow his lead.

She nods towards the nearest watchtower, currently abandoned. “I believe it’s time for us to start tearing this place down,” she tells the others. “Shall we?”


	9. Loophole

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Sogeking, Usopp and an opponent using mind control.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> First written for the prompt "Mind Control" on onepiece-300, I freely admit that the central idea of this was stolen from one of Terry Pratchett's Discworld novels. Written and posted long before the timeskip (remember when it seemed like Usopp had some kind of mildly split personality?).

Sogeking can only be whatever Usopp imagines him to be, and he’s always imagined him as a pure, selfless, confident hero who will not intrude where he’s not wanted. And so Sogeking stays put deep inside Usopp when he’s not called for, knowing Usopp trusts him not to cross the boundary unasked. It’s the hero’s way.

But now, a terrifying new enemy has taken over young Usopp’s regular mind, as well as the minds of young Zoro and young Robin. Horrified, Sogeking at first only watches as his friend/host/creator attacks his own crewmates in concert with the other two, going all out and using his dirtiest, cleverest tricks, his most forceful attacks. Of course, the confused crew can’t retaliate in kind, trying and failing to knock the three out harmlessly.

When Usopp aims an Atlas Comet at Chopper – an attack that wouldn’t just hurt the reindeer badly from this short distance, but also blow him into the sea – Sogeking finds himself surging forward without even thinking, seizing control. And he dons the mask.

He wrenches his arm away, totters for balance, then turns and shoots the enemy instead. Yelping with outraged surprise, the mind-thief sends pain right into his head, then easily takes Sogeking’s mind over. But now the regular Usopp, freed from control, pushes Sogeking away and also attacks the mind-thief. The enemy’s full attention’s on just the two of them now, and that’s enough for Zoro and Robin to break free as well – and because of that, for the Strawhats to finally take the mind-thief down.

It's over. Everyone's safe. Yet Sogeking knows something between them has changed forever. Maybe he had little choice and the best of reasons – but the covenant’s been broken, the balance upset. And it’s no longer so certain who among them is truly in control.


	10. Even So

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Somewhat wangsty look at Usopp rejoining the crew in Water 7.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Written for the prompt "Apology" in a chaos thread. Usopp-centric, set in chapter 438 and will not make much sense without that context. Warning for wangst.

When he finally gives way and starts screaming his apology over the water there's both terror and relief in it. He's afraid, even mortified, because if they'll still leave him here he'll have nothing left at all – he'll have gone back on his word and broken his pride with nothing to show for it. But at the same time he's relived because even if that happens at least he will have done what he could to stop it. There's something cleansing about it.

The cold, hard negative voice inside him is against this, though it rarely allies with his pride. Even right as he opens his mouth wide it still tries to stop him, pointing out that since they're all just fine going off without him, why should he inflict himself on them? It's not as if he's needed or anything.

But he pushes it away because he knows the negative voice is wrong, and the deep-seated feeling that he just plain belongs on that ship is stronger than pride – stronger even than need. Yet part of his apology isn't for mutiny and desertion but for going back on it now, for this very desperate honesty; for not being someone who's worth not abandoning – and maybe it's not just to them but to his own pride as well. It may be silly and childish and wrong-headed but it seems to him it does deserve regret when it's being ignored, even so.


	11. The Story Is The Story

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Chopper tries to correct an old misconception. Set any time after Skypiea.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Originally written for the prompt "Canon" at the challenge comm onepieceyaoi100 (which does allow gen and non-yaoi pairings though not as part of the challenge contest). Rated G.

“You’re not telling it right, Mister Reindeer.”

Chopper glanced nervously at the two kids in front of him. He had little experience at reading to children, but the others had all left and _someone_ had look after them on this dangerous island until their father could be located. At least these girls had been rather quiet and serious until now, and didn’t seem to see him as either a monster or a stuffed toy. 

“I’m telling you what really happened,” he explained. “Norland _wasn’t_ a liar. The gold really was there, and half the island did disappear like he thought. Only not into the sea but up in the air.”

He told them of how half of Jaya had been shot up into the sky; how its inhabitants had fought with the Skypieans for hundreds of years, constantly trying to sound their great golden bell to let Norland’s descendants know that they were still there and waiting; and how, after the hardest, most terrible struggles and with help from visitors from the blue sea, that wish had finally come true.

They listened intently, eyes wide and mouths hanging open.

When he’d finished, the younger sister mumbled, “I think that was even better than the picture book.”

“It was pretty good,” the older sister admitted. “But it’s still not how the story’s supposed to go.”

Chopper stared at her, baffled. “But the book is _lying_!” he burst out. “That’s what really happened – I know, I was there! I stole some of that gold!”

She looked impressed, but still shook her head. “It’s not how it _goes_ , Mister” she insisted stubbornly. 

They kept arguing, but in the end, he had to pick another book.

Usopp and Robin tried to explain this to him later. But Chopper thought he would _never_ understand.


	12. Santa Nami

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The Strawhats are supposed to play Santa Claus for half the Grand Line, and Nami grabs the star spot. Crack.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A holiday shortfic from a request asking for Nami as Santa and Usopp as Mrs. Claus. 
> 
> For the purpose of this fic, assume that somehow the American Santa legend exists in the One Piece world. But since there's still no Jesus on the world of One Piece, Christmas is an entirely secular holiday there. (The name is immaterial /handwaves.)

"Are you reallly sure about this, Nami?" Usopp asked for the fifth time, smoothing the gingham dress and the white apron that was part of his costume.  
Nami didn't look up from the mountain of catalogues piled up around her. "Will you look at those things!" she exclaimed softly. "These things have stuff you never see anywhere else in it, but also everything else." She looked up at him. "Can you believe this, Usopp? There's literally everything in this, from the most expensive and exclusive to the very cheapest!"

"Mm, I suppose that makes sense," said Usopp, who had already looked through the Weapons Catalogue somewhere in the pile. "Santa's supposed to give out all kinds of things, so he does need to know everything there is out there, right?" He scratched his chin and tried a sixth time. "But are you _sure_ you should be doing this?"

Nami gave him a dry look as she turned the page. "Getting cold feet now? When that weird Santa Committee landed on the ship, _I_ wasn't the one volunteering us to be Santa this year for half the Grand Line!" Apparently it was a revolving duty, and there were eight Santas working the whole world – or at least, working those islands that expected Santa to come, but there were a lot of those. "It was all you stupid boys. And it's too late to change now - they'd make us pay a penalty charge for pulling out this late, and we can't have that!"

"I didn't mean that," said Usopp. "Chopper's really looking forward to pulling that special sled they loaned us, and using the powder that's supposed to make him fly. But couldn't Luffy or I be the Santa instead? Or even Brook or Franky… maybe Sanji… I don't see why I had to be Mrs Santa," he muttered. 

Nami clucked her tongue impatiently, tugging on her fake beard. "That's because you insisted on coming in the sled, and there's only room for Santa, Mrs Santa and one elf – Luffy. And I'm telling you again, you're not thinking straight. I know on some of these islands they just expect the Santa party to come in the night, sneak into the house and leave presents there, then leave. But at other islands you're supposed to meet people face-to-face, it's part of the show, and Brook and Franky would just be too scary for many kids. Also, they're not as good as sneaking as I am."

"Okay, fine, but what about Luffy or…"

"He'd eat all the food, you know he would. And," she raised her voice as Usopp tried to interject again, " _you_ would just start gabbing way too much with everyone and we'd never be able to keep to our time-table."

"But the Committee did say we'd get some special time-slowing powers during Christmas Eve and Christmas Day," Usopp pointed out. "Kinda like Foxy's Devil Fruit, except not…" The explanations had been pretty confusing, but it did sound rather exciting.

Nami nodded. "But they also said it wasn't an inexhaustible power, so we should still be as quick about it as we could." She looked down into the catalogue again, a warm smile on her lips. "Will you look at this beautiful jewellery. I wonder…" She got a pensive, faraway look in her eyes that made Usopp swallow and shift his feet. 

"Nami, what are you thinking?" he wanted to know, dread in his stomach.

"Well… let's just say we acquire some of this jewellery as gifts and then exchange it with something cheaper…? They'd still get their gifts, no-one would be hurt… It's the thought that counts, right?"

Usopp gasped. "Nami, that's stealing! …okay, okay, you're a thief and we're pirates, but we can't do that when we're playing Santa! What if we're found out?" 

Nami sighed. "I suppose you're right. That pompous Committee would probably give us an even steeper penalty charge... and they do seem to know way more than they ought to." She huffed and put the catalogue aside, looking out at the grey sky thoughtfully. "But, well, it just seems to me like previous Santas haven't thought this thing through! I'm sure there must be some way this whole business could be turned profitable. For the Santa, I mean, not just for the merchants."

"See, this is what I mean!" Usopp exclaimed, throwing his arms up. "This whole thing is for giving _away_ stuff, tons and tons of stuff, to _other_ people. House after house after house, you're going to open these bags full of presents...these wrapped, gorgeous, wonderful presents... and then you'll have to hand them over to other people." It wasn't that he didn't think Nami could be generous, he'd personally witnessed at least two major instances of generosity from her and several more minor ones. But over and over and over again... ? "You'll end up with a nervous breakdown or something like that," he told her frankly. "Oi, don't throw catalogues at me!"

"Personally," he heard Robin say right behind him, "I feel that if the Santa Committee did not wish for an unconventional approach, they should not have picked the Strawhats to do it."

"You're not helping!" Usopp glowered at her, while Nami grinned triumphantly.

""Exactly!" she purred. "And I already have some new ideas, in fact. One should be able to cut mutually satisfying deal with merchants, there's the matter of deliverance fees... and of course, we should take the opportunity to spy once we can!" She rubbed her hands together. "This will work out _just_ fine."

Usopp backed away, a cold chill running down his back. Time to find Luffy and confer again. It looked like they'd have to stage a coup on the big day.


	13. Won't Stop

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Set at the end of Thriller Bark: Chopper thinks about Zoro's then-most recent injuries. Contains medical angst. 100 words.

He’d never been so worried before.

(Tired; bone-deep tired: so much running around fighting confronting an idol getting smashed up thrown down and scrambling up again and again until the end…)

Bandages, pressure-points, salves and sutures had never felt so inadequate. All that blood loss… Terribly exhausted, he had finally, shamefully, passed out, right after enlisting one of the Roller-Blade pirates to watch over Zoro and wake Chopper up in case of any change.

Never so worried before…

But what the hell did that mean? thought Chopper suddenly, bitterly.

It just meant the next time would be even worse.


	14. Definitions

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> First written for the prompt "Valour" at onepiece-300, this is a piece on Luffy from Makino's POV (plus a dash of omniscience at the start). It spoils something from the cover pic of chapter 614 (part of the "From the Decks of the World" title page suite). Expanded since its initial posting.

They said he laughed in the face of his own execution, and they were right.

They said he took all the more delight in an adventure the riskier it was, scorning caution and reassurance as "boring"; and they weren't wrong.

They said if he looked afraid it was never for real, it was just brief overreactions to small things, things that seemed funny to others.

They said he'd take on any enemy in his way, even declaring war on the World Government itself when it had angered him.

They said, often with a certain admiration, that he was a pretty crazy guy, who didn't even know the meaning of the word 'fear'. And it was easy to see why they'd think so.

But Makino – who reads the newspaper stories, who hears the talk in the pub, the rumours on the city streets – Makino remembers a little boy crying inconsolably. An older boy who'd be quiet certain moments, looking out to sea in silence after Ace had left. Or else he might talk to anyone who's listen, telling them that in three years he would set out himself. He'd gather a crew and lead them on adventures; he'd find the One Piece and become the Pirate King. 

The boy who hated being alone dreamed of setting out all by himself. Then he'd try to find a crew out there who would share his dangers – he who was so afraid of losing any more people important to him. 

She sat down next to him once by the fishing-boats, gently asking him about it.

Luffy smiled. Of course he did. "It'll be fine! Once I'm that old I'll be strong enough to protect everyone. I won't let anyone be gone." He spun his hat around on one finger, legs dangling over the water. 

She put her head to the side. "You're sure you'll find them?"

He nodded simply. "Yup!" And right then, looking at him once more, Makino could for the first time picture him as a future real captain, if he could only find the right kind of like-minded wild dreamers to follow him. 

 

*

 _No_ , thinks Makino now, when she hears the things they say about Strawhat Luffy. _No, he isn't fearless. He's sailed right against his fears from the moment he left home. He's still doing it._

A faith and courage that was perhaps too wide and deep to fathom – yet these days, as she hums to her baby, wipes drool off its face and thinks _we'll make this world good enough for you to grow up in_ , she thinks it has become just a little easier to grasp.


End file.
